90 NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



375. Red-headed Woodpecker — melanerpes erythrocephalus. 

 Glossy white; from four to six eggs are laid, but usually five; size from 

 1. 08 to 1. 15 in length by .yS to .90 in width. This bird frequents forests 

 and groves, orchards and solitary trees in fields. The nest varies greatly 

 in position, being located from ten to ninety feet above the ground, but 

 it is usually excavated in the blasted top of a tree. The Red-head, with its 

 "red, white, and blue" colors, is the best known of all the Woodpeckers 

 in the green woods of Ohio. 



Hab. Temperate North America to the Rocky Mountains. Now rare in New England. 



376. Lewis's Woodpecker — melanerpes torquatus. Crystalline 

 white; four or five; size 1.12 by .95. This bird inhabits the wooded 

 mountainous parts of the West, particularly the pine-belt of the Rocky 

 Mountains, to the Pacific coast of United States and British Columbia. 

 Nests excavated in trees at varying distances from the ground. 



377. Californian Woodpecker — melanerpes formicivorus bairdi. 

 White; four or five eggs are laid; the average size is about 1. 10 by .95. 

 This is an abundant bird from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast. 

 Nest and habits similar to those of the Red-head ; excavated in oaks, red- 

 wood, and other trees. 



378. Yellow-shafted Flicker — colaptes auratus. Glossy white; 

 usually six or seven in number, averaging in size 1. 10 by .90. In excep- 

 tional cases this bird is known to lay a large number of eggs. Between 

 May 4th and June 22d, 1885, Mr. Evermann took from a single nest thirty- 

 seven eggs. In that period of time the bird rested fourteen days. The 

 continued laying of the Flicker has been frequently tested by experiment, 

 for the purpose of determining its laying capacity. Mr. Evermann's bird 

 would doubtless have proved more prolific had the nest not been disturbed 

 by some mischievous boy. In this case the bird, in all probability, began 

 laying April 30th, as the first five eggs were taken May 4th. The follow- 

 ing is a complete summary: May 4th, five eggs; 9th, five eggs; 14th, five 

 eggs; 20th, six eggs — all fresh. Here the bird rested four days. On June 

 2d, seven partly incubated eggs were taken, — one, however, seemed fresh. 

 Here the bird again rested, this time for ten days; and on June 14th, four 

 fresh ones were again taken ; and on June 22d, five more, in which incu- 

 bation was begun. The most remarkable record of this kind which has 

 come under my notice is recorded in the "Ornithologist and Oologist " 

 for January, 1886, by Chas. L. Phillips, of Dighton, Mass. He took one, 

 leaving the other as a "nest egg," and continued to do so day after day, 

 until the female Flicker had laid seventy-one eggs in seventy-three days. 



